This document discusses research into the cognitive aspects of structured process modeling. It presents observations that modelers often work in chunks or blocks rather than continuously modeling. A theory of structured process modeling is introduced where modelers create sections of the model together before moving on. The research hypothesizes that structured process modeling improves model quality for novices more than experts, and more when the task representation matches the modeling technique. An experiment is proposed to test these hypotheses using measures of correctness and understandability of models created with different task descriptions.

1. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
18 June, 2013
FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Cognitive Aspects of
Structured Process Modeling
Jan Claes, Frederik Gailly and Geert Poels

2. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
2/14
Outline
Process models, process model quality
Process of Process Modeling, data collection
Visualization with PPMCharts
Observations, Structured Process Modeling
Theoretical explanation, hypotheses
Methodology

3. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
3/14
Business Process Modeling (BPM)
Business process model
 Graphical, abstract representation of process
 Important tool for analysis and improvement
Business process model in BPMN notation

4. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
4/14
Process model quality
Quality dimension Purpose
PRIMARYRESEARCHFOCUS

5. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
5/14
Process of Process Modeling (PPM)
Properties of
textual description
Properties of
modeler
Properties of
modeling process
Properties of
resulting model
PRIMARY RESEARCH FOCUS
Properties of
real process
Properties of
observation process
Properties of software
and modeling language
Properties of
model reader
Properties of
reading process

6. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
6/14
Process of Process Modeling (PPM)
Observational modeling sessions
 People construct models
 Every action on modeling canvas is logged
 Modeler information is collected through survey
 Different datasets
• 120 students in Eindhoven 2010
• 14 experts in Berlin 2010
• 14 experts in Eindhoven 2011
• 118 students in Eindhoven 2012

7. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
7/14
Process of Process Modeling (PPM)
Properties of the modeling process
Activity Timestamp Attributes
Create start event 10:00 Id = 1; x = 10; y = 10
Create activity 10:04 Id = 2; x = 40; y = 10; name = “Receive order”
Create edge 10:05 Id = 3; from = 1, to = 2
Move activity 10:07 Id = 2; x = 15; y = 10
Create gateway 10:08 Id = 4; x = 65; y = 10; type = “XOR”
Create edge 10:09 Id = 5; from = 2, to = 4
Create activity 10:24 Id = 6; x = 80; y = 0; name = “Reject order”
Create activity 10:25 Id = 7; x = 80; y = 20; name = “Prepare order”
Create gateway 10:27 Id = 8; x = 105; y = 10; type = “XOR”

8. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
8/14
 CREATE_ACTIVITY
 CREATE_START_EVENT
 CREATE_END_EVENT
 CREATE_AND
 CREATE_XOR
 CREATE_EDGE
 MOVE_ACTIVITY
 MOVE_START_EVENT
 MOVE_END_EVENT
 MOVE_AND
 MOVE_XOR
 DELETE_ACTIVITY
DELETE_START_EVENT
 DELETE-END_EVENT
 DELETE_AND
 DELETE_XOR
 DELETE_EDGE
 NAME_ACTIVITY
 RENAME_ACTIVITY
 NAME_EDGE
 RENAME_EDGE
Process of Process Modeling (PPM)
Visualization in PPMChart
time
modelelements

9. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
9/14
Observations
Chunked modeling
Structured process modelingModeling pauses
Delayed start
PRIMARY RESEARCH FOCUS

10. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
10/14
Structured Process Modeling (SPM)
Structured process modeling
 Creating blocks ‘as a whole’ (before moving on to
the creation of the rest of the model)
ACT
ACT
X XACT
Process model block

11. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
11/14
Theoretical explanation
Cognitive aspects
 Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)
limited capacity of working memory
 Cognitive Fit Theory (CFT)
effect increase if task representation/modeler fits

12. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
12/14
Hypotheses
H1: Structured process modeling relates to
process model quality improvement
H2: The quality improvement will be higher for
novices than for experts
(expertise in the case domain, in modeling, and/or in the
modeling language)
H3: The quality improvement will be higher if
the task representation fits with the technique
(i.e. a “breadth-first” ordering of the task description)

13. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
13/14
Methodology
Controlled experiment
 Pre-test
 Treatment
 Experiment
 Compare correctness
and understandability
Cognitive Fit Theory
 Repeat with experts
 3 different task
description orders
Pre-test: case 1
ST1 & QT1
Treatment
Experiment: case 2 Experiment: case 2
SC1 & QC1
ST2 & QT2 SC2 & QC2
Fake treatment
Treatment group Control group
(QT2 – QT1) > (QC2 – QC1)
ST2 > ST1 & QT2 > QT1
SC2 ≈ SC1 & QC2 ≈ QC1
Pre-test: case 1
Tool tutorial Tool tutorial

14. Ghent university, Economics and Business Administration
jan.claes@ugent.be - www.janclaes.info
COGNISE@CAiSE 2013
14/14
Contact information
Jan Claes
jan.claes@ugent.be
http://www.janclaes.info
Twitter: @janclaesbelgium
Thanks for your attention!
Do you know a better cognitive explanation for
the observed effect of structured process
modeling on process model quality?